Pricing laser work¶

Underpricing is how laser hobbies stay hobbies forever. This page is a method for building prices — not a list of “the market rate” numbers. Markets differ by city, niche, and whether you sell on Etsy, Shopify, wholesale, or local pickup.

Course: Price the work — Master LightBurn helps you deliver it faster.

What you are really selling¶

Customers pay for:

Design and file prep (often the largest hidden cost)
Machine time and consumables
Materials and finishing
Packaging and shipping labor
Overhead (rent, electricity, software, marketing, broken tubes, failed blanks)
Profit (the point)

If your price only covers “a few minutes of laser time,” you are donating design work.

A simple cost stack¶

Price ≈ Materials + Labor + Machine + Overhead share + Profit + Fees

Walk each term honestly.

Materials¶

Blank cost, waste factor (test scraps, misgraves), adhesives, finishes, hardware, packaging. Track actual invoice costs, not hopes.

Labor¶

Include:

Email / phone time to gather text and approvals
Artwork cleanup and proofing
Machine setup, focus, fixturing
Run time (you are present for fire watch — that is labor)
Finishing, QC, packing
Remakes (budget a percentage; they happen)

Pay yourself a real hourly rate in the model even if you “do not take a wage yet.” Otherwise the business cannot grow into hiring help.

Machine¶

Think in burdened machine time: purchase price amortized over useful life, maintenance, optics, electricity, and the fact that the machine cannot take every job at once. You do not need perfect accounting software on day one — you need a non-zero machine rate so free jobs do not feel free.

Website fees, LightBurn, insurance, marketplace commissions, advertising. Allocate a percentage on top of direct costs or fold into hourly rates — pick one system and use it consistently.

Profit and fees¶

After costs, add margin. Then add payment processing and platform fees on top of or grossed into the price so they do not erase margin.

Pricing models that work in practice¶

Model	Best for	Watch-out
Cost-plus	Custom one-offs	Underestimating design hours
Productized menu	Repeat SKUs (standard plaque sizes)	Updating when material costs jump
Minimum job fee	Tiny jobs	Clients pushing “just a quick name” forever
Quantity breaks	Batches with shared setup	Setup still exists — do not give it away at qty 2
Rush fee	Deadline compression	Must be large enough to actually deprioritize other work

Variable-data jobs (many unique names)¶

A hundred plaques with different names is not the same as one plaque times a hundred. File prep, proofing, and QC scale hard. Price:

A setup / templating fee
A per-unit run fee
Proof rounds (include one round; charge for endless revisions)

Quotes without guessing market numbers¶

When someone asks “what do you charge for plaques?”:

Gather size, material, quantity, deadline, art status
Estimate minutes for prep + run + finish
Run your cost stack
Present a clear quote with validity date and proof policy
Do not apologize for professional pricing

If the customer’s budget only supports DIY, that can be a kind referral toward learning resources — not a reason to destroy your margin.

Discounts and “exposure”¶

Friends-and-family discounts should be intentional and capped
Charity jobs: decide annual capacity in advance
“Exposure” does not pay for tubes or rent

Want this to click faster? Master LightBurn walks the tools and workflows step by step — lifetime access, one clear path.

Review prices on a schedule¶

Revisit menu prices when:

Blank suppliers raise costs
Your scrap rate changes
Demand exceeds hours in the week (raise prices or lengthen lead time)
You add a faster machine (recalculate — do not auto-race to the bottom)

Go further¶

Primary next step

Master LightBurn¶

Structured LightBurn training from Bearded Builds — skip the scattered YouTube rabbit holes. Lifetime access with updates.

View the course →

Also: Shop custom plaques · YouTube · Course hub